Auxiliary door construction



Pneniea Mar. 3o, 1943 2,915,365 i -v .mxmmnr noon CONSTRUCTION George C.Christy, Application July 91.1939, serial No, 281,543 e claims..v (c1.zo-z'z) 'Ihis invention relates to auxiliary door convstructions to beused for vehicles o1' any kind to which it is adapted and has for itsobject to provide a new and improved device of this descripl' tion.

The invention has as a further object to provide an auxiliary doorconstructionv particularly adapted for railway cars used in the shipmentof grain or other bulk commodities, or small package goods, where thereis a likelihood of the material being shipped to become dislodged intransit, obstructing or preventing the opening of the main car door. Inthe shipping of grain, it is usual at the present time to provide aclosure for the lower part of the door opening by nailing boards inposition across the door opening. When the car is unloaded, these boardsare knocked off and are usually injured or` broken so that they cannotbe used again. 'I'his resuits in a very large expense to the railroad,

requiring new boards for each shipment of grain. One of the objects ofthe present invention is to provide an auxiliary door construction whichbecomes a part of the car and which can be moved into an inoperativeposition when other commodities are being shipped, and then can beeasily and quickly moved into an operative position when grain orsimilar material is' shipped in the car, the auxiliary door constructionlasting the life of the car. 1

The invention has other objects which are more particularly pointed outin the accompanying description.

Referring now to the drawings, Fig. 1 is a side view of a portion of acar showing the door openins' and the auxiliary door construction in itsclosed position;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 kis a part sectional view, with parts broken away, showing thedoor and the door post;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view showing the upper guiding device for thedoor;

Fig. 5 is a view showing the gravity latch at the top of the door; o

Fig. 6 is a sectional view showing the locking bar for connecting themeeting edges oi' the two doors when closed; v

Fig. 7 is a view showing a modied form of connecting the meeting edgesof thev two doors when closed; o v

Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken on line 8 8 oi' Fig. 1;

Fig. 9 is a fragmentaryv sectional view-taken on line 9-9 of Fig.v 1';and ,t

'-Fig. 10 is a side view of the locking bar removed from the door.

`Like numerals refer to like parts throughout o o the several iigures.

The present invention embodies av door con-v struction, in addition tothe regular doors of the car, which becomes a permanent part of the carand which is out of the way when not in use, but which is brought intoposition to close the lower part of the door opening when grain orsimilar material is to be hauled in the car. As herein shown, theauxiliary door construction consists of two sectionsi and l2, which. maybe made in r any desired manner of 4suitable material so as to haveVsuiiicient strength. When the door is in use, the vtwo sections arepulled out by means of the countersunk handles 3, untilv their edgesmeet.

When the door sections are not in use, they are' moved back into doorreceiving receptacles lla and 2a in the 'wall of the car so as to beentirely vout ofthe way. There is preferably a member Ib located at thebottom of the receptaclesv la. and 2a which has an inclined face Ic, sothat if any grain or other material should get into the space betweenthe door and the outer wall of the car,

it vwill automatically be discharged therefrom.

One of the door sections is provided with a tongue 4 and the other witha groove 5, the

` `sections there are guides 1.

tongue going-into the groove when the door sections are closed, as shownin Fig. 3, to prevent leakage of the grain.A There are guides 6 on thefloor of the car between which the door sections are guided, and at theupper end of the door These guides are angles 1a, as shown in Fig. 4,and the door has a T-top 1b. The thin portion of .the door section 1eiits into the space 1c between the guides. There are preferably rollerbearings 'llt between the T-top 'Ib and the angle guides 1a. 'Ihere is agravity latch 8 at each edge of the door opening. This gravity latchwhen the door section There are wedges Il on the door post and wedges I2on each door section, which engage when the door is moved to its closedposition, so as to insure a tight lit of the door against the insidedoor post, see Fig. 3.

'I'he latch and its relation to the top of the door is shown in Fig. 5.When the door sections are brought together to close the opening, thereis a sliding locking bar or keeper for locking them in position. Thismay be of two forms. As shown in Figs, 1 and 6, this locking bar I4 ischannel-shaped and slides along the top of the door sections. When thedoor sections are in their open position, it is slid back along one ofthe doors so as to be entirely out of the way. When the door sectionsare in their closed positions, it is slid along so as to engage bothdoor sections, as shown in Fig. 1, and is held in position by a springlock I5 on the side of one of the door sections, as the door section 2.The end of this `lock engages lugs I1 on the locking bar, see Fig. 8.The lock I5 has a bent end |5a which passes through a slot I5b in thedoor section so that the lock may be controlled from the outside of thedoor. There is a baiiie plate |50 which. is attached to the lock I5 andwhich is of sufficient length to cover the slot |51). There are stoplugs I6 on the locking bar whichengage lugs I6a on the door sections soas to limit the sliding movement of the locking bar and there are alsolocking lugs Ida on the locking bar which lock the bar when it is in itslocking position, so that it cannot be moved upwardly oi of the doorsections.

The locking bar may also be of the form shown in Fig. 7, which consistsof a member I9, one on each door section, and a sliding member 20 whichslides in these members and when the door sections are closed, slidesacross so as to be in the member I9 of each door section. It is thenlocked in position.

There is an opening in each of the door sections and a pressure releasedoor 2| covering the opening in each of these door sections. Thesepressure release doors are on the outside ofl the grain door. There arehandles 22 pivotally connected with the door at 23. At the point wherethe handles are located, there are depressions into which the handleswhen released, automatically drop, so as to be inside of the door linewhen not in use. There are guides 24 along which the doors 2| slide.open position by the latch 25. When these doors are opened, some'of thegrain in the car flows out so as to release the pressure of the grain onthe main doors'so that they may be easily opened. The release doors 2|are preferably countersunk in the auxiliary doors so that they will notinterfere with moving the auxiliary doors back into the wall of the car.There is the usual outer doo: which entirely closes the opening when theauxiliary doors are closed and when they are opened.

I have described in detail a particular construction embodying theinvention, but it is of course evident that the parts may be varied inform, construction and arrangement without departing from the spirit ofthe invention as embodied in the claims hereto appended.

I claim:

1. An inner auxiliary door for railway cars having the car outer wallformed of twosubstantially parallel wall members separated by a spacewith a door opening extending through both of said wall memberscomprising two door sections separate from the regular car door and inthe same vertical plane as the space between said wall members of thecar outer wall and extending part way up the door opening and havingmeet- These doors are latched in their.

ing edges adapted to be brought together to close the lower part of thedoor opening, and door receiving receptacles in and formed by the wallsof the car opposite the door opening, into which said door sections arereceived, so as to be out of the way and enclosed by said walls when notin use.

2. An inner auxiliary door for railway cars having the car outer wallformed of two substantially parallel wall members separated by a spacewith a door opening extending through both of said Wall memberscomprising two door sections separate from the regular car door and inthe same vertical plane as the space between Vsaid Wall members of thecar outer wall and extending part way up the door opening and havingmeeting edges adapted to be brought together to close the lower part ofthe door opening, door receiving receptacles in and formed by the wallsof the car opposite the door opening, into which said door sections arereceived, so as to be out of the way and enclosed by said walls when notin use, said door sections being provided with openings, pressurerelease doors insaid openings and in the plane of said sections, saidsections having recesses above the pressure release doors providingmeans for sliding said pressure release doors therein to open theopenings, to let out material in the car, to release the pressure on thedoor sections so that they can be opened.

3. An inner auxiliary door for railway cars having the car outer wallformed of two substantially parallel wall members separated by a spacewith a door opening extending through both of said wall memberscomprising two door sections separate from the regular car door and inthe same vertical plane as the space between said wall members of thecar outer wall and extending part way up the door opening and havingmeeting edges adapted to be brought together to close the lower part ofthe door opening, door receiving receptacles in and formed by the wallsof the car opposite the door opening, into which said door sections arereceived, so as to be out of the way and enclosed by said walls when notin use, said door sections being made of metal, and a countersunkrelease door on one face thereof and separate guides in the plane ofsaid doors along which the countersunk release doors slide to open them.

4. A door for railway cars comprising two sliding door sections havingmeeting edges adapted to be brought together to close the lower part ofthe door opening, a channel member into which the upper edge of one ofsaid door sections is received when the door sections are in their openposition and movably mounted thereon and adapted to be moved to engagethe top of the other door section when the door sections are in a closedposition, and a latchingA device connected with one of the doorsections, in the plane of said door section and adapted to engage saidchannel member when it is in engagement with the other door section soasto fasten it in position.

5. An inner grain door for railway cars having the car outer wall formedof two substantially'parallel wall members separated by a space with adoor opening extending through both of said wall members, the spacebetween said wall members on each side of the door opening forming doorreceiving receptacles closed at the top, bottom and end and open at theend opposite the said door opening comprising two movable door sectionsseparate from the regular car door and in the same vertical plane as thespace between said wall members of the car outer wall and adapted to bemoved to an open and closed position, said door sections being providedwith an openingr near the bottom thereof, a pressure release doorclosing said opening the face of said door section being provided with adepression into which said pressure release door is received, saiddepression having a portion beyond the door opening into which thepressure release door is received when moved to its open position, andmeans for moving said pressure release door to open the opening, to letout material in the car, to release the pressure on the door section sothat it may be easily opened.

6. An inner auxiliary door for railway cars having the car outer wallformed of two substantially parallel wall members separated by a spacewith a, door opening extending through both of said wall members, saidinner auxiliary door comprising two door sections separate from theregular car door and in the same vertical plane as the space between thesaid wall members of the car outer wall, said wall members of said carouter wall and the space between them forming door receiving receptaclesclosed at the top, bottom and one end and open at the end opposite saiddoor opening, said inner auxiliary door sections closing the open endsof said receptacle both when the door sections are in their closedposition and in their open position, said inner auxiliary door sectionshaving meeting edges adapted to be brought together to close the dooropening.

GEORGE C. CHRISTY.

